Ukraine GBV Medical workers are seeking donations as rape victims increase. Latest news from Ukraine.

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Women and girls in Ukraine are in grave danger. They need shelter and they need feminine medical assistance above and beyond the norm, say NGO workers who are now telling women and kids, “get out but do not travel alone”.

“Women and Children throughout Ukraine must leave. There are no exceptions. Dale Carter of  The RINJ Foundation security dept. has learned that armed males of no particular side in the matter have been roving, raping and looting. Please do not travel alone and should you encounter women and or children traveling on foot, help them. Don’t travel alone,” writes Melissa Hemmingway from the region. 

Video above: UN General Assembly debating an emergency in the Ukraine region of Eastern Europe.

by Sharon Santiago and Micheal John with files from Melissa Hemingway in Ukraine

 

RINJ Women GBV workers in Ukraine since 2010 RINJ Women Gender Based Violence (GBV) workers in Ukraine since 2010. Image Credit: Courtesy The RINJ Foundation

“The situation has gone beyond extreme says Simon Baldock an Israeli security analyst who recently returned from Ukraine to Tel Aviv and filed an extensive report. Israel has agreed to negotiate.

“This insane idea of arming ordinary civilians has created a fiasco. Countries promoting this idea and providing weapons for distribution to ordinary civilians should be sanctioned harshly. Real combatants have no idea who is killing them. They simply fire back,” said Mr. Baldock.

“Because of this crime against humanity, conscripting civilians without any training or any vetting for mental health, criminality and other issues, makes all persons in the Ukraine combatants and therefore targets. Then the United States which is the control and the voice behind Ukraine’s alleged puppet leadership makes an issue of so-called “civilian” casualties but they are armed combatants they are talking about as per the Geneva Convention. Civilians are firing rocket propelled grenades from apartment building windows and residential street corners and are treated as combatants by the invaders  because they are armed combatants,” said Mr. Baldock.

Ukraine Law saying all men between 18 to 60 could not leave Ukraine and are automatically combatants. Women and children must leave. Everyone gets a gun means there are no civilians. This is a mistake.

“Armies fight wars. Civilians get out of the way. The RINJ Women have done everything imaginable to prevent this crisis but when my RINJ guides in Ukraine during my visit complained about and showed me a street-drop of combat arms on a corner for any Tom, Dick or Harry to pick up, I was flabbergasted,” said an irritated Mr. Baldock.

“The Ukraine government is a bunch of comedians playing a video game with realistic effects who passed a law saying all men between 18 to 60 could not leave Ukraine and are automatically combatants. Who are the civilians, then? There are none. Women and children must leave, says the government. Think hard, guys, this means that every person under 60 by public declaration is an armed combatant and no protections for civilians exist because technically there are none,” Mr. Baldock said in exasperation.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Saturday met Russian President Vladimir Putin offering to negotiate a settlement and cease fire.

Mariupol evacuation cancelled. Hostilities resumed at midnight a couple hours ago, says resident.

“Pray for us, said Alona Adamovich, a RINJ member and NGO organizer in the city of Mariupol which she says is in big trouble, surrounded by far-right militia members who are themselves surrounded by Russian troops.

“We were not willing to evacuate because how could we shoot our way through the Azov and then the Russians only to get mugged, robbed and raped by roving gangs of rapists and looters, if we survive the first line of neo-Nazi militiamen,” she said via a local Ham radio operator. She then transmitted a list of medical supplies she asked be relayed.

Alona Adamovich has worked for The RINJ Foundation since a RINJ member was raped and killed in the Ukraine in 2012.

The RINJ Women have issued a statement from HQs in Israel, Philippines, and from Canada. They say they have match-donors for Ukraine who will match any donation made by anyone anywhere.

Funds are drying up because of the desperate need of Ukraine women and girls who are continually being assaulted, raped, wounded or kidnapped.

“RINJ workers in Ukraine need money to pay costs of specialized medication for treating STIs, rape kits, HIV testing and shelter. The supply of meds has been depleted rapidly because of the number of cases. The violence in Ukraine has taken a horrid turn. Roving gangs of armed looters and rapists plus Russian conscripts now spreading far and wide are making an already wicked rape culture even worse.  We are sending volunteer specialized nurses arriving across the Polish border but we must still pay their costs and a stipend of 1927.00 per month. We must also accommodate food and clothing needs of women and girls requiring shelter in RINJ member homes or elsewhere, until we can escort them out of the country,” explains Monique Deslauriers who is the RINJ Director in the United States.

“200% Or more of your donation reaches Survivors and Victim families in Ukraine but there is more. We have been in the Ukraine for over a decade. We have additional matching donors who will match what you donate. In all that is a multiple of four.”

Read the statement at rinj.org/ukraine/ or here: Donate to Ukraine. Provide medical help and shelter to raped women and girls in Ukraine

 

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1820 was unanimously adopted on 19 June 2008. It condemns the use of sexual violence as a tool of war, and declares that “rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide”. The adoption of the resolution marked the first time that the UN explicitly linked sexual violence as a tactic of war with women, peace, and security issues. Security Council Resolution 1820 reinforces United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and highlights that sexual violence in conflict constitutes a war crime and demands parties to armed conflict to immediately take appropriate measures to protect civilians from sexual violence, including training troops and enforcing disciplinary measures. In November 2010, the UN Secretary General presented a report on the implementation of UNSCR 1820.